Nintendo jumps back to profit despite Wii U struggles

Nintendo has returned to profit for the year ending March 31st despite flagging Wii U sales.

The console giant, which last year reported losses of £284 million, generated nearly £47 million in net income for the year, thanks to strong hardware and software sales for the 3DS.

This was still only half of the profits Nintendo had previously forecasted however.

Total revenue for the company reached £4.1 billion, with overseas sales accounting for £2.8 billion, 67.1 per cent, of sales.

The Wii U sold 3.45 million units worldwide, with just 390,000 units sold since December. Total software sales for the Wii U to date are 13.42 million.

Nintendo admitted the Wii U “was not able to maintain initial sales momentum after the beginning of 2013 due to a delay in the development of subsequent software titles”.

It also said Wii U hardware sales had a negative impact on Nintendo’s profits, reporting an operating loss of £236 million.

In an effort to reverse the console’s fortunes, the company said it would “concentrate on proactively releasing key Nintendo titles from the second half of this year through next year in order to regain momentum for the platform".

The 3DS meanwhile continued to enjoy a resurgence in fortunes, with 13.95 million sales for the 3DS during the year, and almost 50 million games sold for the platform. This was still down however on the company’s projection for 15 million 3DS sales.

New Super Mario Bros 2 managed to achieve sales of 6.42 million worldwide on the handheld console, while Animal Crossing: New Leaf hit three million sales in Japan.

The Nintendo DS sold 2.35 million, with an impressive 33.38 million games also sold, including Pokemon Black and White 2 selling 7.81 million copies alone.

Despite flagging sales for the Wii U, Nintendo hopes to sell a further nine million consoles and 38 million Wii U games during the next fiscal year ending March 31st 2014.

It also aims to sell 18 million 3DS’s by end of March next year, and 80,000,000 software sales.

In total, Nintendo has forecasted net sales of £6 billion, and a net income of £361 million.